By Matt Wiley | September 3

Charles Griffin
Charles Griffin

Thanks to a photo taken from surveillance footage, a man wanted for multiple ATM robberies during the Labor Day weekend is in custody and could be held responsible for additional, similar crimes, authorities say.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), Charles Griffin, 34, of the Hidden Palms apartment complex, located just south of Tampa Palms on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., was arrested on September 3 in connection with at least three separate ATM robberies, each of which occurred within a day of the previous.

The HCSO report states that at around 2 a.m. on September 3, Griffin, who was armed with a silver handgun, approached and attempted to rob a customer using the Bank of America ATM machine at 250 E. Bearss Ave. Hours earlier (on September 2 at around 1:35), Griffin had demanded money from a person at the same ATM, where his photo was caught using surveillance footage from the ATM machine. He drove off in a grey Dodge Journey SUV, which deputies spotted later that day, ultimately leading to his arrest. Griffin also has been charged in the ATM robbery of a customer at the Chase Bank at 2802 E. Fletcher Ave.

When deputies spotted what looked like his vehicle at the RaceTrac gas station on E. Bearss Ave. (just west of I-275 and right across the street from the scene of the robbery) on September 3, they questioned him and took him into custody.

“We’ve identified (Griffin) as a suspect in five similar crimes,” says HCSO spokesman Larry McKinnon. “But, we’ve only been able to formally charge him in three of those cases, so far.”

Griffin is being held at the Hillsborough County jail without bond.

 

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